Chicago-based Portal Innovations LLC has named its first Houston leader shortly after expanding into the Texas Medical Center's newly opened Helix Park campus.
The venture capital firm said in a Jan. 4 LinkedIn post that it selected Monique Knighten as its Houston executive director. Knighten has over "15 years of experience in supporting the growth of research scientists and clinicians committed to developing translational life-saving therapeutics into the clinic," Portal said in the post.
Knighten was previously the regional sales manager for Germany-based pharmaceutical equipment supplier Sartorius Stedim Biotech, where she led a team based in the central United States as part of the company’s Bioprocessing Solutions division. She also spent nearly 10 years at Germany-based Milenyi Biotec, where she served as a technical sales consultant based in the TMC.
In a statement provided to the Houston Business Journal, Knighten identified her priorities within the new role.
"My first focus will be assembling a team of talented lab, business development, and operations individuals dedicated to utilizing their experience and entrepreneurial spirit," Knighten said. "Next, we will work alongside various partners [such as the] TMC, pharmaceutical companies, and life sciences organizations within the Houston ecosystem to help bring together early-stage life sciences biotech and medical technology member companies in order to build a broad community. Finally, we are laser-focused on building a first-in-class lab space to help attract academic, biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and financial contributors to our space. Through our crafted capital, we aim to reduce barriers to Houston’s emergence as a hub for biotechnology and medical technology companies creating life-changing and life-saving breakthroughs."
Knighten will operate from Portal’s new office and lab space in the TMC3 Collaborative building, part of the first phase of the 37-acre Helix Park campus, which opened in October. The VC firm’s footprint spans 30,000 square feet, occupying the entire third floor of the building.
The Collaborative Building houses lab spaces for TMC member institutions such as the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston and Texas A&M University. TMC’s headquarters are also located in the building.
Portal announced its move into Houston last June as part of its national expansion strategy, which has included Boston and Atlanta. Co-founder and CEO John Flavin launched Portal in 2020 after observing limitations in lab space in Chicago while founding a previous company.
Flavin told the Houston Business Journal in an interview that he saw many of the same opportunities and hurdles in Houston as he did in Chicago. Portal specializes in early-stage capital for life sciences startups that are coming out of academic institutions.
“Early-stage capital becomes a requirement that's often lacking in early and emerging ecosystems,” Flavin said. "Certainly, we found that in Chicago, and we expect similar in Houston. And if all your capital is coming from external locations, you don’t have the type of stickiness of local capital that your company needs to get up and going [from an entrepreneur point of view].”
The firm has already made several Houston investments, including into March Biosciences, which also landed funding from MD Anderson’s Cancer Focus Fund and the Cancer Prevention and Research Institute of Texas toward the end of 2023.
Leaders in Houston’s biotechnology industry have highlighted a need for firms like Portal that are familiar with the risky nature of investing in biotechnology and navigating clinical trials and other regulatory hurdles. One hurdle is attracting firms to move to Houston, compared to other cities like Boston and San Diego that have more robust opportunities in the field.
The creation of Helix Park is intended to be one selling point for investors, as the campus modifies the TMC’s land use covenants to allow for-profit companies to operate on its ground. Bill McKeon, CEO of the TMC, said the organization was concentrating heavily on making commercial partnerships a reality in Houston.
“What I think is happening here in Houston is that we’re going hyperspeed on the commercial side, which is attracting venture investments, and those investors are adding to our brainpower,” McKeon told the HBJ in an interview.
